Service Before Herself

Woman First To Represent Hu At Miss Virginia Pageant

HAMPTON — Those who know LeRuth Pendergrass praise her as a caring and intelligent person. She's the type of person who often puts others' best interests before her own.

On her way to qualifying for the Miss Virginia pageant, which is taking place through Saturday in Roanoke, the 21-year-old Hampton University student has attempted to make life better for others.

"I know that God has a purpose for me in life," Pendergrass said. When she does things for others, she said, she expects nothing in return.

Pendergrass is in her fourth year of a five-year engineering program at HU and is a fiber optics intern at NASA Langley Research Center.

Contrary to popular belief, she said, the pageant is not a beauty contest. Pendergrass sees it as much more. It is, she believes, an opportunity to compete for scholarship money as well as an opportunity to make valuable contacts.

If Pendergrass takes the crown at the pageant, she will win a $7,000 scholarship.

A victory over the 30 other contestants also would qualify her for the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., later this summer. The top prize there is $35,000. Cullen Johnson, of Norfolk, the current Miss Virginia, was first runner-up to Miss America last year, said Margaret Baker, the pageant's executive director.

Over the course of her life, Pendergrass said, several things have taken center stage: God, family and service to others.

Pendergrass' desire to help others is evident in her track record. It is also evident in the platform she's adopted in pursuit of the Miss Virginia crown.

Since entering HU in 1992, Pendergrass has pledged a service-oriented sorority, Delta Sigma Theta; is a member of HU's gospel choir; teaches a Sunday school class at the university, and once tutored students at two Newport News schools.

Issues concerning the mentally retarded are particularly dear to Pendergrass, and she has included those issues in her platform she takes to the Miss Virginia contest.

As a child, growing up in Atlanta, Pendergrass said she developed an attachment to and a concern for the mentally retarded while volunteering at a facility for the mentally retarded where her mother has worked for 23 years.

"Her mother's a big inspiration to her," said friend Lakecia Hines, 19, also an HU student. "She's not only her mother, she's her best friend."

Pendergrass credits her concern for others to her parents, who, she said, "always taught me to be sympathetic to people who are handicapped or mentally retarded. You don't treat people any differently because they are different from you."

One mentally retarded child at the facility particularly touched Pendergrass. He piqued her interest and concern, she said. The little boy's parents, like parents of other residents at the facility, rarely visited, Pendergrass said.

"I think that's sad," she said. "They're human beings, regardless of their handicaps, I think they should be treated like human beings. People disrespect them."

Pendergrass will be the first student to represent HU at the pageant, beating 11 classmates for the title of Miss Hampton University at a campus pageant in April. The HU pageant was sanctioned as a qualifying pageant for the state contest, said Joy Jefferson, HU's director of student activities. Two other Peninsula women will be in the pageant as well, Catherine Knapp, Miss Hampton Holly Days; and Andrea Ballangee, Miss Hampton/Newport News.

Pendergrass' sensitivity and ambition, Baker said, are qualities indicative of the caliber of contestants in the pool of Miss Virginia hopefuls.

"They are sharp young women," she said, noting that some of the other contestants go to Harvard University and the University of Virginia.

After she finishes HU, Pendergrass plans to attend Georgia Tech to pursue a doctorate degree in engineering. She said her father, Levester, a botanist with the U.S. War Service, pushed and kept her on a straight and narrow path toward engineering.

Though Pendergrass is participating in the state pageant, those who know her best said she is not the type of person to seek the spotlight.

"She's humble," said her mother Ruth. "Regardless of what type of accomplishment ... she never gets above herself or thinks she's above the next person.

"She's a very `for real' person, down to earth. She's not a put on. She doesn't add on to try to make people accept her."